Comcast Corp. v. Behrend

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Ah, class decertification in district court…the rarely glimpsed, late-harvest victory that comparatively few class action defense counsel can claim to have tasted. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California recently delivered one such victory for the 2016 vintage, decertifying a plaintiff class he originally certified in 2012 in a wage-and-hour litigation…

 Judge Richard Posner has always been an independent thinker, something he has proven in the last year as, despite his economically conservative credentials (which would lead one to presume a possible defense bias), he authored a number of arguably pro-plaintiff class certification opinions, particularly his twin opinions in the controversial case Butler v. Sears Roebuck…

This week, we ask the question: what happens to a class action after the defendants win an appeal?

The case posing this question is Glaberson v. Comcast Corp., No. 03-6604, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160892 (E.D. Pa. Nov. 12, 2013). And the facts should be familiar: Glaberson is the current name for the case…

 In the past few years, Professor Mark Moller of DePaul University Law School has proven to be one of the most thoughtful critics of modern class action law in the legal academy. While most commentators take on class action decisions from either a pro-plaintiff or pro-defendant standpoint, Professor Moller appears intent on evaluating these opinions…

Despite the warnings, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes did not herald the end of the class action, or even class action scholarship. Indeed, new debates have risen in its wake. One of the most interesting is what to do about classes where large numbers of class members might not have suffered any injury. Courts…

 It’s a busy week for me, so here’s just a brief rundown of two opinions vacated and remanded from the US Supreme Court:

RBS Citizens NA v. Ross (7th Cir. 2012). (More here.)  The Seventh Circuit affirmed certification of a wage-and-hour case, despite what it conceded was a less-than-optimal order certifying the class. RBS…